This is an example of Hiseki Davey’s kana style calligraphy, a script indigenous to Japan. Kana are phonetic Japanese symbols, which are often written in a flowing connected script. Davey Sensei has brushed a waka poem that reads:
Taki no oto wa
Taete hisashiku
Narinuredo
Na koso nagarete
Nao kikoe kere.
Fujiwara no Kinto
Ogura Hyaku Nin Isshu
“Though the waterfall
Ceased its flowing long ago,
And its sound is stilled,
Yet, in name it ever flows,
And in fame may yet be heard.”
The first character in the poem is taki, “waterfall,” and it is enlarged and elongated to resemble downward cascading water. Kana calligraphy should alternate between light and dark tones, and display an unbroken flow of ki, or “energy,” as the characters stream down the paper. These fluid and graceful elements can be seen in this example of Davey Sensei’s award-winning artwork.
The poem is painted on a plain white tanzaku, a small vertical poem card, about 36cm long x 6cm wide that can be adorned with colored designs, speckled with cut gold, silver or mica or covered with silk. The origins of the tanzaku may be associated with little slips of paper used for divining in ancient Japan. An additional potential starting point of tanzaku comes from the Heian era, when tiny rectangular pieces of paper, on which one poem was written, were used for poetry anthologies.
Davey Sensei’s calligraphy is displayed in a traditional Japanese tanzaku holder. You can commission him to create this same calligraphy for your home, office, or meditation room. He can be contacted at hedavey@aol.com.
